Ok, I'm feeling sorry for myself and I wanted to see if anybody else is going through this...
My baby is almost exactly 16 months old and she weighs.....

drumroll please.
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17lbs 5oz!

I could cry. I don't understand what's wrong. She's developementally just fine (perhaps even ahead of her peers). She has little/no interest in real food. I can get her to eat a cookie and small amts of cow's milk, but that's it. She still nurses VERY frequently, and its starting to wear on me. I just want to sleep through the night one time. I want to see her *really* eat something. I am worried, and tired, and I just want her to gain weight so badly. She weighed 16lbs 5oz at 12 months. She has gained a whopping 1 lb in 4 months. Anybody else with a super skinny babe out there? I feel like I'm all alone out here

Don't feel bad mama!!! Your dd is the same as mine was at that age. Now at nearly 2.5 years old she weighs between 23-24lb. She's PERFECTLY healthy in every way, is just a petite person. Olivia has always eaten pretty much anything we give her (not picky), she just eats a little amount. We let her self regulate. Just keep introducing foods, keep offering (no pressure), etc. I think it is important for them to be eating a wide variety of foods after they're about 1 yr. Breastmilk is awesome (my dd is still nursing), but I think they need more calories, a variety of minerals & vitamins, etc. My dd was very reluctant in the beginning, but we just kept offering. Do you let her feed herself? Try to focus on calorie & fat dense foods - avacado, whole milk yogurt, eggs, cheese, etc. I've been known to serve my dd cereal with half & half, LOL.

My 21-1/2 month old DD weighs only about 20 pounds. She is in the 3rd percentile for weight, although she's in about the 30th for height. People can't believe her because she looks to be about 10 months old but she's running around and speaking in complex sentences so they think she's a dwarf. (Okay, I admit it, it's crossed my mind too on rare occasion.) She doesn't have a big appetite, although she does eat a decent variety of foods.

My 16 month old is about 21lbs, and has been since she was around 8 months old! She's very, VERY active. The most wiggly, jumpy, active, busy baby I've ever seen (and most of my friends have seen...). She also eats like a horse so I'm not worried that she's starving.

I feel your pain, Stacey. My daughter is 14 months and about the same weight. At 12 months, she was 17 pounds. My neighbor's 5 month old is bigger! She used to eat a LOT and pretty much everything I set in front of her, but lately she's been pretty picky and seems to only want to eat snack foods that I don't keep in the house (like goldfish crackers she gets at church or my parents' house). I too am weary of the constant nursing, but I'm afraid to wean her because she's so little (I know, lots of folks here would be angry that I'd like to wean her before she's ready, but *I'm* just about ready). I just offer her a variety of foods, and make sure I offer her a snack every hour or 2, and she's getting *some* food into her. My philosophy is that if she's developmentally fine and active, she must be eating enough. If she was actually starving, she'd be listless or sleepy, but she's not. Offer your child as many different foods as you can throughout the day. You might be surprised at what she'll choose to eat (even if it's something she wouldn't eat before or something you don't like). My daughter was a huge cheese fan for awhile and now she won't touch the stuff, but she'll eat broccoli! I give her a lot of scrambled eggs and yogurt, which she will eat.

Do you know how big you were as a baby? I was comforted when my mom said I was also tiny as a baby and toddler. And back then, she said she didn't think the pediatricians were as obsessed with the weight charts!

I thought my daughter fit when I saw the title, but now I'm not so sure. She's tall and thin and her pants keep falling off, but she's never been "low weight" according to the doctors. At 2 she's 35 inches tall and about 25 lbs. I think the doctors obsess too much about the weight charts. Other moms I know in real life have been badgered into weaning because the kids are growing slower than the charts say they should. Any advice for finding clothes for thin toddlers?

My 2 yr old goes between 20 and 23 lbs. I'm so paranoid that someone is going to think he isn't being taken care of. But, he's healthy and happy and eats all the time. His daddy is really skinny, also (size 28 waist) so I guess for us, they see Scott, they understand! :LOL

It's hard, though when I take him to classes with kids his age and all the others are so fat, they can hardly walk.

Nathan's a tad heavier at 24lbs but he is THIN! You can see most of his ribs all the time and people who see him think he weighs less. He has no roll on his thighs and hasn't for many months now. Here's a current picture: http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL334...4/69607844.jpg

Haley is not quite that small but @ 2 she is 36" (97% for height) and 25.5 pojnds (33% for weight) The only thing we worry about the doctor saying is that she has been declining pretty steadily in her weight percentiles for the past year (dropped from 75% to the 45% between 12 and 18 months and is now down to the 33%) We don't really care though b/c she is on track (and ahead) developmentally, never gets sick and is happy

Glad to find this forum as my daughter is 15 months and just below 18 pounds. It's the first time she's completely fallen off the charts. Though we've done all the tests and she is developmentally fine if not ahead, I still worry about her. I'm sure she's fine and probably just takes after me but I find I think about her feedings a lot. To make things more difficult, she has a dairy allergy. My pediatrican has recommended that we give her Pediasure - what do you guys think considering I'm wary of more artificial supplements but do want to fatten her up?

I need some new ideas for fattening food that doesn't include dairy - any suggestions?? And my daughter is a strongheaded self-feeder so need finger food suggestions or things she can pick up with a fork. She eats a lot of fortified burgers. For example, I mix ground turkey with veggies, flaxseed meal and brewer's yeast.

Also, I'm using cloth diapers but have just about given up as they are constantly leaking with her active skinny legs. Any special tricks to reinforce the diapers around her chicken legs? I have the velcro covers that are just not working.

For the nursing moms, I wouldn't hold onto the nursing if you are only doing it out of guilt because your baby is skinny. I had a lot of hesitancy weaning because of my daughter's weight but my daughter surprisingly handled weaning very well and within a couple weeks really picked up her liquid intake. She now takes 20 ounces or so from a sippy cup of toddler formula which seems very healthy and fattening.

Count me in. At almost 21 months dd is almost 21 lbs and 31-32 inches. She's an extremely picky eater and seems to have a small appetite. But she's happy, healthy, and meeting all her milestones. Dh and I are both on the heavy side so I'm sure people are wondering how we got this little baby. I'm trying not to stress out about her weight but it really bothers me that you can see her ribs. I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Add me too. DD is almost 17 months old, and weighs maybe 20 pounds, and is about 31 inches tall. She hasn't gained any weight in 4 or 5 months. She only nurses twice a day (going down for and getting up from her nap) but nurses to sleep and 4-10 times at night. My biggest issue is trying to get her to eat. I fear I'm drying up, and she's not getting much breast milk any more. But she rarely wants to eat anything. I offer everything under the sun, but she still barely gets anything in her. It's so frustrating because her favorite thing to do is take a bite and then spit it all out. :

But she's happy and healthy and developing well, so I try not to worry about it. Her first pediatrician told me to stop breastfeeding her all together when she first started charting low (about 7 months old), so I fired him, found a new ped who's never weighed her, so there's no pressure from him. We only go when she's sick, we don't do "well baby exams".

Comparing her to what I was like as a child doesn't help. I was a fatty! In all my baby photos I've got rolls upon rolls of fat. But at about age 3 I stopped gaining weight, and now I'm quite slender. So maybe DD will grow up to be large? Who knows.

Sometimes it just feels good to know I'm not alone I met another mom today who's baby is 12 months old and 15 lbs! She acted like it was the most normal thing in the world...it was very refreshing! Part of what bothers me is the fact that dd#1 was such a big baby. She had a food aversion (no texture until 15 months or so) but she was always around the 95th% I remember that she always wore clothes sized twice her age (size 24months at 12 months...in a 2t by about 14 months). Maddie fits comfortably in sz 12 months, but the length is too short sometimes.

We cloth diaper too and I have had fairly good luck with most size Small Wahm-made diapers. We love the size 1 FLAG diapers from www.righteousbaby.com . Regular prefolds and a snappi also work just fine for us. The best fitting covers I've found are wool soakers with leg cuffs because they are so stretchy and fit a wide range of babies. I also really like Small Bummis whisper pants.

As for non-dairy high fat foods....maybe avocados, peanut butter (if you feel comfortable...my baby loves the stuff), anything prepared with oil. My ped suggested we add a little oil to dd's food. I haven't done it yet because it just doesn't sound very yummy to me. I have given dd Pediasure and she really liked the vanilla but will only take a few sips at a time. The most she's ever had in a day is one can. It was a pain putting it in the fridge every half-hour or so. It is loaded with fat....17 grams I think. I would give it to her more often if it wasn't so expensive. I feel like we just end up wasting it because she sets it down and it gets warm.

I have also been known to give her cereal with half & half. I also make her grits/cream of wheat/oatmeal with heavy cream and lots of butter. Mommy likes to taste it to make sure its okay I told dh last night that maybe we should feed her milkshakes with high-fat ice cream mixed in. Think she'd like it? If not I know a 5yo that would gladly finish anything left over :LOL

My ped also said that she will likely hit a growth spurt at around 18mo. I am hopeful : I get sad every time I see her skinny little shoulders and chest. I think it has made me more protective of her, she just looks so fragile to me. I should take a pic to share.

OK...I've written a short novel for your enjoyment I'll quit my rambling for now. Good night fellow skinny-babe mommas

My ped also said that she will likely hit a growth spurt at around 18mo. I am hopeful : I get sad every time I see her skinny little shoulders and chest. I think it has made me more protective of her, she just looks so fragile to me. I should take a pic to share.

I kept hoping for this, but mine only gained 1 lb after his first birthday, : It is encouraging to know your kid isn't the only one!

ryan is 32 months and is only 26lbs maybe.......... i have a pic of him in a size SMALL bumkins AIO........ he can also still wear infant prefolds and medium HH almost need cross over tabs........ now a year ago he was a chunk..........

DS is 13 months old and only 19 pounds...he's at the 5th %ile on the boys' charts. OTOH, he is 32" tall, or around 90th %ile for height. So I don't worry too much, I think it's just his shape. His dad, uncle & cousins are the exact same way, all very tall and very very lean.

Another skinny boy here! Aaron was quite a chunky babe until about 11 months when he started crawling. Now, forget it! He eats a TON but runs around like a madman all day I'm hopeful for a growth spurt!

As for skinny-boy clothes, carter's makes pants with an adjustable waist - we tighten ours all the way in!

Brynn is tiny. I'd be suprised if she weighs 20lbs yet, and she's 17 months old (I'll know for sure at her checkup next month). She's in cloth diapers, so they hold her pants up nicely. Her father and I were both scrawney kids, that ate like horses, so it doesn't suprise me that she's the same way. She will literally eat more than me when she sits down to dinner, but doesn't chub up. As long as I know she's eating well, I don't worry.

The hard part for me, is that ALL of the babies in my family are chubby. You know, those pleasantly plump ones with knee rolls, like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. My newest cousin, who was born about 8 months later than Brynn, passed her in weight when he was 4 months old, and she was a year old. He hit 20lbs, and she was only barely 18lbs. I was shocked. My aunt was totally proud of her "big boy", and started looking at me like I starve my kid. I saw pictures of my cousin's baby, born a full year after Brynn, and she's 17lbs at 5 months old. I know that there's nothing wrong with my child (or her doctor would mention something about it), but sometimes it's hard to beleive that with so many tubby babies in the family. :P